The current Formula 1 season has been characterized by a change in line-up, which occurred precisely at AlphaTauri: outside De Vries e in Ricciardo. A new opportunity for the Australian who will have to demonstrate that he has not lost the quality shown above all in Red Bull in recent years, dreaming - starting from 2025 - of being able to return on a permanent basis to Milton Keynes.
Ricciardo on the hunt for redemption after 2022
For Ricciardo, AlphaTauri is undoubtedly a good testing ground: his real goal, clearly, is called Red Bull, but the Faenza team represents for grid number #3 the great opportunity to redeem himself after a year to forget at McLaren. A season, 2022, full of pitfalls and difficulties, with the Woking team who he decided to replace Ricciardo – with Oscar Piastri – even before his contract expired. Although the AlphaTauri driver only took part in two GPs – the Hungarian and the Belgian – Ricciardo did not disfigure at all, on the contrary. The results, in fact, speak of a Ricciardo who he can challenge his teammate Tsunoda who recently admitted that since the Australian took over from De Vries, he has been "under more pressure".
The Australian's admission: "I have more feeling with the AT04 than with the 2022 McLaren"
One of the reasons behind Ricciardo's good start that's the feeling with the AT04 that the Australian, according to what Motorsport.com Italia reports, considers superior to the one with McLaren from last season: "During my first year at McLaren, during the summer break, I realized that we were probably going too deep trying to find performance. We had to change the approach a little. I did not like it. Compared to McLaren – continued Ricciardo – on the Alpha I felt much more comfortable. Already on the first ride I took on the AT04 I felt that I was getting the feedback I expected, or perhaps liked. So this is important. Maybe I'll find things I need to work on that don't match my feelings. The first impression, however, gave me more familiarity. This was also very important."
STATEMENT SOURCE: Motorsport.com Italy
